Eco-friendly and cheap home decor ideas

Some Ideas of Eco-friendly and cheap home decor came about when I visited my neighbors home. My neighbor is 79 years old and shovels her drive way and even mows her own lawn. She is also handy with power tools.
Would you ever believe that this was once a bathroom sink. Originally Found at Penny's Outlet center, it was a damaged floor piece. There is a marble sink inlay, broken of course. My Neighbor got them to sell her the sink for 30$ cause to fix the marble or to replace it would have been very costly. I'm sure the company was happy to make any money on a broken floor piece. This is now a cabinet in her living room. She had taken a solid piece of wood cut it to fit beveled the edges to keep the details, and had a stain colored to match the original. Original cost was over 400.00. The Eco-friendly part is that this is a new piece of furniture that will not end up in a landfill and will most likely become a family heirloom.


Another few works of art she has made has given me many ideas. Not that Iv had time to make my own someday I will.
This was infants changing table. Found in a garage sale, its solid wood. She stained and buffed out the ware and tare. Its now its her buffet in her dining room.

Here is a rocking stool part of a glider set. she bought it also at a garage sale and reupholstered it. Now it matches the rooms in her home.


Most ideas are trash to treasure, and just pure bargain hunting. If you have the time to repair and re-due something you can create anything. You can also expand on this by using renewable products, such as bamboo fabric when reupholstering items.

Want to go shopping ? are you broke?

CLEAN your closet. Chances are you have clothes in there that you have not worn. Most people own so many clothes they could go months with out doing laundry and still have something to where. I can attest to that, for myself and my kids.

While cleaning out the closet and dressers I found so many things Ive bought that Ive never worn or have not worn in a long time. Back when I had money I loved the bargain shopping. But I was so good I got so many skirts, shirts, and pants for like 1-3$ , you tend to forget how many you buy. I did. I found at least 8 skirts Ive never worn, still had tags and everything.

I rearranged my closet so the newer older things Ive never worn were up front , then that way id get more use out of them. I cant believe I had so many nice clothes. I did the same with the kids clothes. My kids get a lot of clothes for there birthdays and Christmas. I buy clothes all my kids can grow into. Unisex clothes, mostly jeans.Then buy boy or girls embellishments that could be removed like a patch that way I get more use out of a pair of jeans. Did you know that boy jeans are cheaper then girls........also when you kids are 4 and 2 they don't care and no one can tell.

chain e-mail wisdom

I borrowing this from another person I enjoyed this so I thought Id pass it on:

THINGS TO KNOW

1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair

2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish

3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes

4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair

5. Elmer’s Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads

6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea

7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water

8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste

9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar On it!

10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too

11. Bee stings - meat tenderizer

12. Chigger bite - Preparation H

13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H

14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)

15. Stinky feet - Jell-O!

16. Athletes feet - cornstarch

17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub

18. Kool-Aid To clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)

19. Kool-Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool-Aid in Dannon Plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won’t hurt them if they eat it!

20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD’s! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper

21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray

22. Pam Will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby

23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls

24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on

25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar!

26. Body paint - Crisco Mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!

27. Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak

28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia, Soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!

29. A Slinky Will hold toast and CD’s!

30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste

31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt And watch it absorb into the salt.

32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.

33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!

34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce Towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets, Soak overnight!

35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate Toothpaste and brush it!

36. Dirty grout - Listerine

37. Stains on clothes - Colgate

38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup

39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola, It will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!

40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- Sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.

41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox, or 2 Bayer aspirin, Or just use 7-up instead of water.

42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you ’squeeze’ for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie. They are: Monday = Blue , Tuesday = Green , Thursday = Red Friday = White and Saturday = Yellow. So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Pass this information on to friends so they can be informed also.

Food Stamps

I was taught a very important lesson by a diverse group of women. That Food stamps are for people who need help buying good food for there families, and that they come from diverse backgrounds. And just because someone is wearing NIKE or Jordan's and I'm sitting there in clearance slip on's does not mean we are not deserving.

When I was growing up I was always told people that live off the system are fat and lazy and get under the table jobs to keep the benefit's they were receiving. And that our tax money was paying for them to stay at home and be lazy.Well I need that help now and Ive paid into those taxes. And I really do need the help and I'm by far not lazy.

Ive come to understand that we live in a totally different time then when I grew up. And even though its still hard for me to ask for help I will bite the bullet and get the nutritious food my family needs. I'm not a bad person and neither is anyone else looking for help.

To Buy or Not to Buy.....Do I Really Need It

When I became one of many that lost there home to foreclosure , I started to think differently. I spent a lot of time and money making that house the way Id like to see it. It was always a work in progress. I bought nice furniture and nick-knacks. Well when you have a lot of stuff and a long road trip with a limiting funds you have to pick and choose things that mean the most. I left behind a leather sectional that I loved. Because we just could not get it to fit in the truck. I also left behind , donated and gave other things away including a deep freeze full of food we just never got to eat before we moved. All that being said, when ever I see something I like and I want to buy it on an impulse buy. I now stop and think. Am I just gonna throw that away in the next move. Is that Item gonna get used. How will my kids treat it, are they gonna break it. If its a kids toy/ book will they enjoy it or toss it to the side. How long before I get mad at that Item for having to put it away several times a day or stepping on it , in the middle of the night. And don't even get me started on kids clothes. My kids have enough cloths to furnish a re-sale shop. But I can guarantee that I got 80% of them on a clearance rack at a huge fraction of the cost.
I cant justify getting something anymore for the fun of it. This experience has taken the thrill I used to get from shopping. The thrill I get now is a game I play. How cheap can I get my grocery bills. And how long can I wait till an item goes on clearance before I get it for 1$-2$. I almost leave a store on a high from the well thought out shopping plan I made and how much I saved.
My best example so far was a coupon for 1.50$ of a certain brand salad dressing . That was on sale for 1.58$. Which I ended up getting for an awesome .08 cent. I wont buy now unless I can honestly say it was worth it. and that .08 cent salad dressing was totally worth it.

Twin Toys

Why hasn't any one capitalized on twins toys, and other baby products. I mean if my girls want the same toys each I have to spend money on two of them. I think there should be more toys that are made for twins or you can get a buy one get the other at discount.

Lets say I want to get one of those Ride on cars like the Barbie Jeep I either pray that my kids will share or fork over hundreds of dollars on two toys. Now something that expensive Id just make them share . But when it come to sets or collections of a toy they don't want to share. They want there own. I know that id want my own if I were a twin.

Oh and what about starting out with cribs and strollers. Twin moms don't choose to have two kids at once. No one is truly prepared for two kids at one time. The cost of 2 cribs, 2 bassinets, a double stroller, extra bottles extra clothes extra formula (if you breastfeed or not). I grantee most moms did not get any of the costly bigger items as a baby shower gift. Some company out there should have found a way to make things made for twins like a bigger single crib that is divided for 2 or more babies, that would be cheaper then two cribs but still make the crib company profit, and more toys need to come in double packs or TWIN PACKS I mean we can already get foods that way . So why not.